Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-20
TEXAS FARMING INTEREST.
Principal Thtngs Necessary to Constitute
an Ideal Farming Country.

| we OILen near IL SAIu IuaL lHEInlnS III
this country is not profitable bust
LESS, that the farmers are getting more
and more into debt every year, and that
the outlook is growing very discouraging.
There must be some truth in the state
ment, but let US examine 1t and see
| wherein the difficulty lies, as the great
I farming interest is the staple industry of
this country, and as the progress of any
country depends more or less upon the
staple industry of that country. Now if
the staple industry of this country is not
profitable, certainly the general progress
of this country would not be profit
able. No one can deny that the general
progress and development of this country
| is profitable. Texas has more solid
wealth to-day than at any time
before, a larger number of pub
lie buildings, many miles of rail
roads that are extending through fertile
and undeveloped lands throughout the
state. Look at her many thousand homes;
comforts and conveniences are being
added every year, and a complete cree
ton of many, all add to the comfort and
pleasure OF home, and to-day there is
more land in cultivation in the state Of
Texas than at any time during her past
history. The farm Improvements, sta
} bles, cribs, wells and ClsternS and farm
| ing implements, and everything which
required labor aud adds comfort, pleas
ure and happiness to the human race
combined, J constitute the great solid
| wealth of this country. There are four
principal things that are necessary to
constitute an ideal farming country. l.
Quality and quantity of labor. 2. Capt.
tai. 8. Good quality CT soil. 4. Regu-
| lar and favorable seasons.
! For the first necessity-quality and
| quantity of labor do not suppose there
| is any country under the sun that has
any larger per cent. of steady, hard
working farmers (not counting the drift
| ing "cOwbOy" and "yearly mOvers"O who
have made what they have by their own
exertion than Texas has to-day.
| 2. Comparatively speaking Texas has
not got the capital that she deserves or
that is necessary to carry on her volume
of business without money matters being
somewhat cramped or rate Of interest too
dear, but as capital in farming business
! is only needed generally to supply labor,
stock and imple ments, consequently in
this business they are IN sympathy with
each other and ought to be termed the
same.
3. Good quality of sOil-The analysis
of the Texas soil would vary much
| throughout the different localities of the
state. Go to the most fertile country
on the face of the globe, read he glowing
descriptions of the Pacific slope and get
facts from where youwilI compare the esti-
mated value per acre in the different To-
calities, and after you do all of this you
will tiud the fertility Of the Texas lands
will surpass them all.
+. Now comes the almost fatal occur
renee, | might say the missing link, which
would constitute au ideal farming COun-
try. With favorable and regular seasons
for the growth and maturity OF the crops,
we would certainly have the most pro
gressive and profitable farming country
that would be in existence With our II lid
and fascinating climate and the inspiring
| Gulf breeze, with "King Cotton" the
staple crop of the south, wheat
oats, corn and sugar all are naturally
adapted to the soil of this southwestern
cline. Now these are all facts that any
practical, reasonable mind will acknowl-
edge. Can these drOuths be remedied
| by irrigation? In some localities
it certainly can be successfully managed,
while in others it is not practical to Un-
dertake it. The most practical and profit
able plan for the farming class to resort
to, and the only one that can be devised,
Is if they have to use every economical
| plan and deny themselves, their families
and desires, to pull through "drouthy"
| year, just imagine every year is drOuthy,
so when the country makes good crops,
save surplus for q "drouth,"
bo
er or later, because this is naturally a
"drouthy" country.
Is it not possible to live as economi-
cally one year as another? Now this be-
ing true and it being a fact that this
country will produce one-helf Of bale of
cotton, or forty bushels of corn, or
twenty bushes of wheat per acre during
an average crop year, where does the
surplus of the good crop go? Extraya-
gance and waste is Just in the same eX-
tent as the productiveness and progress
with the great majority CT thOughtless
farmers.
Why not control the farming business
ION the same true economical principles
as any other business, and then, and not
until then, will the world stop hearing
''in debt and growing poorer"
For instance, if fire insurance COM
pany did not have many losses during the
year, and the officers were to consider
that they wi not have any larger number
next year, aud all get on "bust" and
spend the surplus money, how long will
that company exist? They must place
some money as a surplus fund, so when
the fires come a8d losses are heavy, they
are pre- Jared to meet their Obligations.
The great trouble with the world is they
do not realize that one dime saved and
added together at ten different times win
make ST.; they want to make 81 or 500
all in one trade, and if they do sue
coed to make this amount, then they have
too much and do not know what to do
with IL except have good time.
Let the individual in the great farming
industry of this state think if he pleases
that the farming business is not as profit
able, taking everything into cOnsidera-
ton, as any other state in the Union or
any nation upon this green earth. l
would like to know why they remain here
and miss the pleasure of living in that
ideal country of prosperity. NOLA c.
Informing Texas Editor.
BIG Springs. TEX, April II, 1887
To the Editor of the Gazette.